| 'An estimated 10,000 people have been killed since the start of the insurgency. More than 1,700 people, mostly civilians, died last year.'
'Separatist unrest in Acheh on the tip of Sumatra island has been fuelled by years of human rights abuses by the military and by the central government's draining of the region's rich oil and gas resources.'
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 oldiers shot dead two suspected rebels in a clash at Bukit Hagu in North Acheh late Saturday evening, said an Acheh military spokesman, Major Zaenal Muttaqin. He said troops seized one AK-47 rifle and one homemade bomb.
A spokesman for the Free Acheh Movement (GAM), Sofyan Dawod, denied any rebel was killed and said the victims might have been civilians. Muttaqin said gunmen shot dead a civilian at Kuala Simpang in East Acheh on Saturday.
He said rebels torched a bus at Simpang Ulim in East Acheh on Sunday after ordering the passengers to get out but no one was hurt in that incident.
Local humanitarian activists said the bodies of three people, two of them with gunshot wounds, were found separately in North Acheh on Saturday and Sunday.
A civilian was killed by unidentified gunmen at Kuala Simpang on Saturday, a humanitarian worker said. The victim was separate from the one reported by the military in the same district.
The body of a man was found beside the main highway at Kejuruan Muda in East Acheh, on Saturday, the humanitarian worker added.
An estimated 10,000 people have been killed since the start of the insurgency. More than 1,700 people, mostly civilians, died last year.
Separatist unrest in Acheh on the tip of Sumatra island has been fuelled by years of human rights abuses by the military and by the central government's draining of the region's rich oil and gas resources.
In an effort to stem separatist sentiment the government last year granted Acheh greater autonomy and a larger share of revenues from oil and gas. It also allowed the staunchly Muslim region to implement Islamic sharia law.
© 2002 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved.
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